


Step One

by HTFNoelle



Series: The Two Ravens [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Yandere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:25:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8252404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HTFNoelle/pseuds/HTFNoelle
Summary: It's always good to have a friend at your side. It's just a matter of making one in the first place.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Azrael is owned by speremint.tumblr.com. Magdelene is mine.

Azrael had lived a life of black and white. You could live no other kind in the stark, unforgiving place that was Korpens Dal. It was a place of no spring, summer, or fall. Only winter was strong enough to last there. The harsh climate was a sacred gift of the Raven Queen, for where else could her temple be but a place of winter unending?

He'd heard of the other seasons. He'd read all about the far off southern lands. But they were naught but a phantom in his mind. What use were they, after all, when he was to spend his life in service of the goddess of winter? What need did he have of anything outside her perview? 

And whatever he wanted, well that was to be quickly thrown aside, as all childish things must be. 

Nothing in this world could be so perfect as looking out upon Korpens Dal after a fresh snowfall. No wilting southern plant could compare to the hardy trees that grew out from the mountainsides, their reaching branches held up in defiance of the weather that wished to fell them. No doubt the harsh heat of the south could never come close to how the valley's chill wind set his senses alight. It was impossible, for one could not improve upon perfection.

But as he stood upon a hilltop and saw the world stretch out beneath him, a world filled with more colors than he had ever seen before, he could not help but feel a bit of doubt creep in. 

"Admiring the view, eh?" Magdelene's voice boomed from right behind him. He leaped half a foot in the air from shock, but did his best to change it into a smooth turn to face her. His expression went sardonic in a moment, lips smoothing into a flat line. 

"I was studying it. I want to make sure we're where the map says we are." He said. 

She chuckled, her twinkling eyes saying everything that needed to be. Azrael bristled, but didn't reply. To rise to the bait would only prolong things. In his silence, she shouldered past him, starting to pick her way down the hilltop. 

He was glad to see the back of her. The woman was infuriating, full of only jabbing insults and complaints. He'd spoken little to her before the journey, and every day he congratulated himself on that smart decision. In the black and white world of Korpens Dal, Magdelene had always been an unsightly stain. Brought there not because of necessity or destiny, but idiocy. Left like so much firewood by the door, unwilling and ungrateful for the temple's charity. 

She'd proved herself nothing but an unpleasant person and unwilling pupil during their travels. She greeted his wisdom with sufferance at best, and her every word seemed designed to test his patience and eat away any good will he might have had. 

He followed her down the hill and into the pine forest beyond. The ever present spring in her step was even more pronounced than normal. Her easy grin gentler than he'd ever seen it. As he tripped over unseen roots and had to duck around obnoxious branches, she walked forward unperturbed. Not graceful or silent, but unworried. Something twisted deep inside his chest as a thought wended its way through his mind. 

In this bright world, so unlike Korpens Dal, Magdelene seemed to fit far more than he. 

It brought him up short, and she took a few more strides before turning back to look at him, her head cocked sideways. 

He had no answer to her questioning gaze that he wished to give. Instead he asked, "Are you from here?"

Her grin returned, with its usual sarcastic edge, "No, I wasn't born in a pine forest."

"I meant this region, don't be obtuse."

She looked down her nose at him, and her voice was full of false pretension, "I am never obtuse. I am acute. Always and forever."

His only response was a flat glare. 

"Come on, that was a good one."

He didn't stop staring daggers at her as he shook his head.

"Ugh. Fine. No, I'm not from this forest or this area. My family lived to the east. There's a mountain range there. We lived at the base. My parents were farmers." Her answers had none of her usual flourish and gilding. The truth, then. 

"I see." He said, head back and shoulders square, the twisting in his chest had settled. She was as much a stranger as he, only better at hiding it.  
Magdelene tilted her head again, "And what is it you see, exactly?"

Somehow, someway, he kept himself from rolling his eyes. Despite her words to the contrary, obtuse was the perfect word for Magdelene. She was not dim, but she was willing to pretend it if it meant she could try and trip him up. So very much like a child asking "why" until there was no more answer to give. But where a child might be innocent and curious, Magdelene merely wished him to turn purple with rage as he could not answer whatever inane question she threw at him. So be it. 

"Your parents made you travel far for their idiocy." He said with a smirk. 

She threw back her head and laughed, the sound booming across the forest. In the distance he saw birds startle into flight. 

"I know right?" She said, still laughing, "You'd really think they would've reconsidered. But, they were god fearing folk. But who wouldn't want to be a champion of a deity? Beats farmer any day, I think." She tapped her armored chest at that, her gauntleted fists clanging against the metal. 

"Of course." He replied, and though he tried to make the words scathing enough to ruin her good humor, she seemed unfazed. 

"What about you, then? Where are you from. I know you're a foundling, but where did they find you?" Her question and her smile held none of their usual teasing. Only simple curiosity. 

Even so, it stung, and he felt no small amount of satisfaction at seeing her good humor drain away with his answer, "Close to death on a mountainside, for the wolves and the carrion birds to devour."

"Oh, well..." She took a half step back, her expression as sober as he'd ever seen it, "That's... that's really fucking awful, actually. I'm really sorry. You deserved better." 

Azrael had been ready for another scathing comment. Rarely did he get the upper hand when they spoke, he wished to drive his advantage home and shame her thoroughly. But then she said words no one else ever had, and he was no longer sure. 

Other's had called him lucky or blessed. They has said it was good the Raven Queen had watched over him and led her servant to his rescue. That his life was not ended moments after beginning was a miracle. He was to be grateful for that gift, so sparingly given. Especially by their goddess. None had thought to apologize for the people who left him to die. None had ever said he deserved more than what he'd been given. He didn't. He knew that, but still...

It was nice to hear it. 

"That was a long time ago. I am happy where I am." He made to walk past her, but his horns caught on a low hanging branch, and he had to shake them free, "By which I mean I am happy where I am in Queen's service. I cannot stand this place. Let's hurry and leave before I set it all on fire."

Magdelene chuckled and fell into step beside him as they continued on. She reached ahead and lifted away any unruly branches before they could catch him up, "Well it's going to be a few days if I read the maps right. But you know, if we went straight east for a few months we could stop by my parents. Say hi, get caught up, ask them about any information they can remember about that fortune teller who tricked them, you know."

He turned his head and gave her a flat stare, not bothering to speak. 

She held up her hands, "It's just an option. Just an option. I mean we've already come this far. Might as well go the whole mile, you know?"

"Or several hundred. Out of our way. For you to chase after a charlatan."

"Exactly! I mean, might as well, right?"

He turned his gaze forward again, "No."

"That's fine. That's fine. We can just save that for the return trip."

"No we will not."

He could hear the smile in her voice, "I wouldn't count on that. I've got months to wear you down."

They lapsed into silence after that. But, for perhaps the first time since their journey began, it was an amiable one.


End file.
